


I’ll be there for you (and you’ll be there for me, won’t you?)

by that_gay



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Anxious Zuko (Avatar), Autistic Zuko (Avatar), Birthday Fluff, Fluff, Lighthouses, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Sexual Humor, Short & Sweet, Soft Zuko (Avatar), Sokka (Avatar) Has ADHD, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, no beta we die like men, soft sokka
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-21 18:21:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30025929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/that_gay/pseuds/that_gay
Summary: Sokka wouldn’t have dreamed for his and Zuko’s day off to lead to standing at the top of a lighthouse with Zuko in his arms and a betrothal necklace on his neck, and yet, there he was, smiling at the sea and his head on top of Zuko’s.OrZuko proposes on Sokka’s birthday.
Relationships: Minor or Background Relationship(s), Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 54





	I’ll be there for you (and you’ll be there for me, won’t you?)

**Author's Note:**

> Idk how I wrote this... but I did so....?
> 
> Enjoy.

Sunlight shone through the open window of their bedroom, Sokka rolled over as he scrunched his nose at the sun in his eyes. His arm reached for Zuko’s side of the bed as he searched for the warmth of his boyfriend who wasn’t there. Sokka whined when there was no heater for him to leach onto, no Zuko to wake him up with featherlight kisses on his face, no humming of a tune while Zuko played with one of his hands which he’d intertwine with his own. Sokka opened his eyes only to squint at the brightness of the room, roaming his eyes over the room and back to where Zuko slept on their bed.

When he heard the shower running he planted his face in his pillow and muttered angrily at La for not staying in the sky longer and cursing Agni for waking him up at whatever ungodly hour that it was, fully knowing he’d have to get up soon enough to make coffee for himself (and tea for Zuko).

The carpet beneath his feet was cold as he made his way through the living room and onto the kitchen tiles. It served him right for ditching his slippers in the hallway (how they got there he didn’t know, what he did know was that he wasn’t awake enough to care). With the kettle on he stared blankly at nothing till the water came to a boil. 

“ _Hey._ ” Zuko muttered as he slid his arms around his waist from behind him, his chin propped up on Sokka’s shoulder.

“Hey yourself.” He smiled as he poured the hot water into their mugs.

“Got anything you want to do today?” Zuko nuzzled into his shoulder. 

Sokka hummed in thought as he passed him his tea. “Hardware store? I think with the right wire and some more resistors and I’ll be able to complete that circuit board. What do you think? Anything planned for today or should I be expecting a surprise party planned by Ang and Katara?” He took a sip of his coffee. It was tradition by now for at least one of their ragtag group of friends to have a surprise birthday party a year.

“Well, _actually_ the surprise party was postponed to next weekend so I guess that’s out of the bag. Toph’s getting her disability card renewed today and Suki has the full week booked because of that competition.”

“So it’s just us?” He raised his brow in suspicion.

“Unless you have plans or want to visit your dads I don’t see why not.” He averted his eyes to his half full mug of tea.

“ _Hmm_ , suspicious. I know that look and you look very suspicious Zuko. _Very suspicious._ ” He poked his side.

“ _Shut up_. I have nothing _planned_ , okay? Just an idea here and there, so, _shut up_.”

“Aww, so you planned the whole day for _us?_ ” He took Zuko’s mug and put it on the counter before he took Zuko’s hands into his own. 

“ _Maybe._ ” He muttered, his face felt hot as he looked down at the tiles like they were the most interesting thing in the world.

“ _Babe,_ ” He cooed, “of course I’m down with whatever you got planned.” Sokka took the back of Zuko’s palm to plant his kisses on. Zuko grumbled something under his breath before he took his hands out of Sokka’s, heat rose to his face at Sokka’s display of affection.

“Um, taking the car then. Half an hour to get ready?” Zuko looked up to meet his eyes. 

“Yeah, we can do that.” Sokka breathed out. Zuko’s eyes held so much emotion that had bubbled onto the surface of his face it knocked his breath away. From the vulnerability in his creased brow to the way his good eye was halfway closed to accommodate the small smile on his lips. If he hadn’t known before there’d be no denying that the expression on Zuko’s face made him look like a lovesick fool. Sokka kissed his unscared cheek before going back to their room to change.

.

The car speakers blasted one song after another as Zuko gave direction from his phone’s GPS while Sokka drove through the back roads and onto a highway while he sang off tune to the music. They had stopped for petrol and road snacks near the beginning of the journey, gummy and chocolate wrappers stuffed in the cup holder on Zuko’s side of the car. The two of them must have been on the road for a few hours before Zuko made them drive into an abandoned parking road near an old cemetery. 

“Ooh, spooky. Is this your way to tell me you decided to change from punk to goth? Mary Shelley’s gonna be so proud of you Zu.”

“Hmm, not today. I’m not going to have sex on my mother’s grave and neither will it be on your mother’s one.”

“ _Zuko_.” Sokka gasped. He unclasped his seat belt and waited for Zuko with his arms crossed at the audacity of that man. Zuko’s messy bun at the top of his head and the all black attire really didn’t help his case at not changing subcultures. “How dare you disrespect Mary Shelley that way? She was the OG goth and there you are dissing her sex life.”

“Sokka, seriously?” He raised his eyebrow as he smirked at him.

“Yes, _seriously_. For all you know she’s gonna haunt you for the rest of your life for not using this opportunity.”

“ _We’re not having sex in a cemetery._ ” He huffed out while he smiled. With a quick click of his own seatbelt he reached for the door handle. “If you want proper birthday sex your going to wait till we get back. Right now let’s focus on the place I’m taking you to.” He got out of the car and closed the door behind him. He leaned on the car as he waited for Sokka to get out himself. No words came out of Sokka’s mouth as it opened and closed like a fish before he smiled and got out of the Honda himself.

“We’re not going to the cemetery?” Sokka asked.

“No.” Zuko took his hand as he walked ahead of him. The path they were on led them through the outrisks of the town and onto the beach. The breeze was warm on his dark skin, they avoided the sand and Zuko led them further up a hill that let the sea appear below them. Seagulls flew above them as they kept to the sidewalk near the edge of the cliff. Their walk was unusually quiet, Sokka could only stare at Zuko and his determined posture as he led him by his hand.

Sokka spotted the red and white lighthouse standing a good distance away before they reached it, “ _No way_. Zuko. You — oh my gosh. Seriously? You— no way. You didn’t. _Zuko_. Really?” His eyes sparkled, he couldn’t tear his eyes away from the lighthouse. He squeezed Zuko’s hand as words left him.

“I might have?” He scratched his neck in embarrassment. “ I mean, I know you’ve been interested in making a light that moved on its own and if you don’t get your hands on something similar you have a problem figuring out how it actually works and I know you like the sea… so, I just thought— you know?” He smiled sheepishly at Sokka.

“I love you, _Tui and La I love you so much._ ”

“Yeah?”

“Yes Zuko. I really fucking do. Come on,” He dragged him forward. The lighthouse wouldn’t wait for them and neither was he to see the thing in action. “ _Come on_. The thing isn’t on yet I’m not chancing missing the worker putting it on.” He sped up. Zuko’s having to jog behind him to catch up with Sokka’s long strides.

.

It was early evening when they got to the top of the lighthouse. The wind was strong enough that Sokka had to keep the strays from his wolf's tail from tickling his face by having his hand over his forehead and hairline. Zuko snorted at his misfortune and adjusted the pins in his hair to keep most of his own hair away.

“The lamp isn’t the only thing I brought you here for.” He said over the wind.

“Oh really?” Sokka wiggled his eyebrows. “ Was it to celebrate my twenty-eighth birthday? Am I to expect that you carried a present in those skinny jeans of yours?” His arms moved animatedly.

“I — _yeah_. Actually I—“ he gulped as he looked at the ground, his shoulders were hunched and his hands were in his jean pockets. His left hand gripped onto the betrothal necklace tightly. His palms sweaty with nerves as he finally looked up to his boyfriend. His smile was contagious enough for Zuko to forget what he was about to say.

“Yeah?” Sokka asked.

“Well, I — um, well, fuck I practiced this,” he took a deep breath to steady himself. “Um, could you— could you turn around? Please?”

“Of course Zu.” His eyes shined with curiosity as he turned his back to Zuko.

Zuko took a step towards him, hand gripped the necklace as he raised it to his eye level. He stood behind Sokka then, chest to back, touching, as his heart hammered in his ears. His face in the crook of his neck for the second time that day, he took another deep breath.

“So, um, I know we can’t get legally married and I know you’re okay with that but— but I wanted to do this anyway, _fuck I was supposed to be so smooth about this_ , and anyway what I’m asking is—” his hands trembled, “ _Please spend the rest of your life with me.”_ He whispered, hands and betrothal necklace hovered over Sokka’s collarbones.

“ _Zuko, darling, I_ —“ his hands moved to grip onto Zuko’s tightly, “Yes. _Yes_ , I’d love that— is that? Oh my gods Zuko, you really —“ his lip trembled as he looked over at the necklace gripped tightly in Zuko’s hand, there was moisture in his eyes that was on the verge of becoming a waterfall, he took the hand free of the necklace and brought it to his lips, “ _Zuko_ , I’d be honoured to be with you for as long as you’ll have me.”

He smiled into the crook of Sokka’s neck, hands still shaky as they retracted from Sokka’s hold, “ _May I?”_ he whispered into his ear. “ _Always.”_ he replied.

If the wind’s wraith slowed over the lighthouse, or the sun stayed longer in the sky that afternoon and the waves crashed lazily over the coast instead of its usual chaos, that was no one’s business but that of the gods watching over them.

**Author's Note:**

> Authors note:
> 
> I used and referenced Japanese proposals in the way they don’t usually get on one knee and say “marry me” so rather than saying ‘marry me’ you got what you did as its one of the more none traditional ways to ask for ones hands in marriage. I also wanted to include the water Tribe way of proposing even if we only know of this particular tradition from the southern Water Tribe and not the northern.
> 
> While this is set in what I’d consider modern atla I wanted to make a parallel to our world that while yes marriage laws have come a long way most disabled people still can’t get married.
> 
> _” The issue of marriage equality for the disability community is not a new one. It is heavily intertwined with the movement towards eugenics, where people with disabilities were not only sterilized against their will, but also prohibited from marrying. In Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kansas, Minnesota, and Michigan, people with intellectual disabilities, mental disabilities, and epilepsy were prevented from marrying due to a series of laws that were passed in the early 20th century. Other states used legislation prohibiting anyone they considered to have a “genetic defect” from marrying. To this day, while in some instances the law is unenforced, most of these laws have never been repealed._
> 
> _Removing the laws from the books has been argued against, because some members of the government seem to believe that it is protecting people with disabilities who they deem as, “unable to make their own decisions.” The people affected usually have intellectual disabilities, severe physical disabilities, or they lack the ability to communicate in a ‘typical’ way such as through vocalization. However, these laws are just the tip of the iceberg, when it comes to the government’s interference in deciding whether people with disabilities are able to marry or not._
> 
> _For many of us, this goes beyond the law, as our right to marry is contingent on a system of classism, which already seeks to keep many people with disabilities living in poverty. Our community faces an unemployment rate of over 80%, and while some of that is heavily embedded in workplace discrimination, a large part of it has to do with the idea that people with disabilities must rely on the government for their most basic of needs.”_
> 
> https://cdrnys.org/blog/disability-dialogue/the-disability-dialogue-marriage-equality/
> 
> Thank you for reading. Comments, kudos and bookmarks are greatly appreciated!


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